


evening phantoms, etc.

by rib14



Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: M/M, Post-Canon, after the fight with rigor addax quits the re u cannot change my mind, they're just domestic and cute and it's good
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-26
Updated: 2020-01-26
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:40:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22421980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rib14/pseuds/rib14
Summary: just some post-canon domestic jaceaddax. secret samol gift for intergalactic_asher!
Relationships: Addax Dawn/Jace Rethal
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7
Collections: Secret Samol 2019





	evening phantoms, etc.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Intergalactic_Asher](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Intergalactic_Asher/gifts).



It wasn’t unusual for Jace to wake up and forget where he was.

It happened more often at the beginning, back when he and Addax still lived on Counterweight in the shadow of Rigor. Back then it was hard for him to remember that there was something other than dreams. He’d wake up and forget what that even meant. And then he’d look to his side, see Addax sleeping next to him, and remember.

Now, almost ten years after he woke up in a hospital bed in Mesa, he was more accustomed to the present. He had a life outside of the war repeating in his head. He had a loving husband, a thesis in progress, and new friends. His life was moving forward, in real-time, not making skips and jumps and rewinds. He was okay.

But sometimes… the nightmares still caught up to him. That day, that fight… it occupied a space in his memories that would never leave him. A decade of dreaming is not something that can be lost so easily to time. The grey, lifeless sky, the way Addax’s voice changed in those last moments, the cold air in his lungs as he took what he was sure would be his last breath…

“—Jace? Are you okay?” Addax’s voice, the one of the present, breaks through Jace’s subconscious, and he blinks awake.

“Hm?” Jace responds, squinting at a concerned Addax lying next to him. He notices his heart beating fast in his chest and Addax’s warm hand on his shoulder.

Addax’s eyes soften and his lips form a small, fond smile. “Hey. I’m right here. Breathe.”

Jace takes a deep breath in, then breathes out. Then, he does it again.

“You know where you are?” 

Jace nods. “Kesh.”

Addax squeezes his arm. “That’s right. You’re here with me. Everything’s okay.”

Jace smiles at his husband, fondness growing in his chest. “How did you know?”

“That you were reliving something bad? Your breathing changes when you think you’re back there, it’s something I’ve noticed.” 

And suddenly Counterweight feels as far away in time as it is in space. This Addax—the one lying next to him with messy purple bedhead and the most sincere eyes in the world, the one who cares so deeply and passionately, who understands him in the ways he can’t understand himself—this was the man he was in love with. Not the puppet of a dead Divine who haunted his dreams. “...Oh. I didn’t know.” 

“Do you want to talk about it? Whatever it was?” Addax swallows. “I mean… I think I know what it was…” 

“No, I’m okay now,” He reaches his hand up to place it on Addax’s cheek and closes the distance between their lips. Addax smiles into the kiss, moving his hand from Jace’s arm to the back of his neck and pulls him closer.

“I love you,” Jace murmurs against Addax’s lips.

Addax pulls back, connecting his forehead with Jace’s to look right in his husband’s eyes. “I love you too.”

And they stay just like that, eyes slowly drifting closed, Addax’s arm draped protectively over Jace’s frame, for a few minutes that feel like their own little forever.

Then, Jace yawns.

“We should go back to sleep,” says Addax, beginning to yawn as well. 

Jace hums in agreement, lowering himself to fit his head under Addax’s chin and wrapping his arms around him. “Goodnight,” he whispers.

Addax kisses the top of Jace’s head. “Goodnight, Jace. Sweet dreams.”

…

Addax wakes up that morning to sun streaming through the windows and an empty bed. He gets up, gets dressed, and walks into the kitchen to find Jace right where he knew he would be: at the counter, on his tablet, working on his thesis with unmatched focus.

“Morning, babe,” he says, not looking up from his work.

“Good morning. Did you sleep okay for the rest of the night?”

“Yeah,” he pauses, and looks up at Addax with appreciative eyes. “Thank you for helping me through that.”

“Of course, Jace.”

“I’m just… really lucky to have you. You know that?” 

At that, Addax walks to the other side of the counter to sit down next to Jace. “And do you know how lucky I am to have you?” he pauses, placing his hand to his chin as if in deep thought. “Didn’t you do the same thing for me just last week, when I had a nightmare about that old Evening mission?”

Jace smiles. “That’s true…” he says, and takes Addax’s hand in his. “I guess we’re just good for each other.”

“I was certainly under that impression,” Addax responds, rubbing Jace’s wedding band with his thumb. “I didn’t exchange these with just anyone.”

Jace rolls his eyes, still smiling, then looks up in thought. He quickly scribbles something on his tablet.

“What are you working on?” Addax asks, always eager to hear about Jace’s philosophical writings, even if he doesn’t always feel like he completely understands them. 

Jace sighs, resting his chin on his hand. “I think I’m almost done, and I’ve actually been trying to figure out a title, finally. I feel like _Overcoming the Problem of Other Minds_ is, well, a bit much… but I also really like it?”

Addax thinks for a moment. “I think it’s pretty good.”

“Thanks. But you’re not… you know…”

“The most objective source on whether my husband’s ideas are good? Yeah, I know.”

“Well, I mean, we just had a talk a few days ago about how objectivity doesn’t exist, but…” Jace trails off as Addax grins and rolls his eyes. “I should just ask my thesis advisor. She usually knows what to do.”

Addax leans over and kisses Jace on the cheek. “I know you can do it, Jace.” Addax never really used pet names; the way he said ‘Jace’ like it was the most important thing in the world conveyed that better than anything else ever could.

“Thanks, babe.”

“Alright, I’ll leave you to your work,” Addax begins to pull away. “I don’t want my distractions to delay the most important philosophical work of the decade…”

Jace, however, doesn’t let go of his hand. “No, you can stay. I like it when you’re here.”

Addax smiles, and squeezes Jace’s hand. “If you insist.”


End file.
